13 ON THE WRONG TRACK

CHAPTER 13 ON THE WRONG TRACK CHOMP! Alexander thought of hungry tunnel fish as he shoveled macaroni into his mouth. "Mrmmh," he said, scooting his chair back. "You're finished already?" his dad asked. "Yeah, Dad." Alexander headed to the door. "I'm meeting my friends in ten minutes."

His dad gave a double thumbs-up. "Good for you, AI! Playing with your new friends... Call if you need anything!" The sun was setting when Alexander arrived at the old kickball diamond. STATEMENT COMMUNITY KICKBOARD DIAMOND

"Hey, Salamander!" Rip stood near home plate, talking to a girl Alexander hadn't seen before. She had a long ponytail and was holding a flashlight. Alexander trotted over. "Hi, I'm Alexan" He froze. "Wait. Nikki? Where's your hoodie?" Nikki shrugged. "I only wear it during the day." "Enough chitchat," Rip said. "Tell us what S.S.M.P. stands for!" "Okay," said Nikki. "Follow me!" She led the boys through the outfield, stopping near a stretch of rusty railroad track. "Here we are!" Nikki said. She shone her flashlight on an old train car parked on the tracks a caboose.

Alexander stared at the initials. "S.S.M.P. is a railroad?" "Yep," said Nikki. "It's the old Stermont Superfast Mountain Pacific Railroad. It stopped running years ago." "What's a run-down railroad got to do with a monster notebook?" asked Rip. "Beats me," said Alexander. "But there must be a connection! Let's peek inside and BRUMBBUGGRUMMM! "What's that noise?" Rip asked.

"Look!" Nikki yelled. "The pitcher's mound... It's moving!" Just then, a spiky fin burst from the dirt. A scaly beast bulldozed its way toward the kids, chomping everything in its path. "Run!" shouted Alexander.